Yobs riot in street after Euro defeat

VIOLENCE spilled out into the street after fighting broke out in a town centre pub at the final whistle of England's last minute Euro 2004 defeat by France on Sunday.

Hooligans smashed bottles and started throwing punches in the Barracuda bar in Friar Street after the French scored their second decisive goal.

The trouble then continued in the street.

One eyewitness, a 35-year-old from Southcote, said: "It was disgraceful. They started throwing glasses and smashing windows and optics.

"Then they all piled out into the street and started smashing cars up.

"I was with my girlfriend and there were some other girls with us who were very scared.

"It was shocking and disgusting."

He added: "When we got out into Friar Street there were fights going on all around us and the guys who had come steaming out of Barracuda were attacking cars.

Owen Bolger, assistant manager of Barracuda, confirmed the trouble started when a group of 20 thugs started fighting at the final whistle causing everybody else in the bar to flee.

Mr Bolger said: "It was going well until the 89th minute and then with people going from such a high to such a low in that short amount of time, they decided a fight with everyone was in order.

"They started throwing glasses and punching everybody so we threw them out and the police frog-marched them away."

The Friar Street bar has CCTV and Mr Bolger said he expects it will be trawled through to find the culprits and bar them.

The Southcote man, who asked not to be named, said he and his friends came across some of the troublemakers later in the evening.

"We were walking by The Oracle and some of the guys we had seen leading the trouble came up to us," he told the Evening Post.

"They were clearly pumped up and excited - they asked if we had been in Barracuda and then said how great it had been, one of them actually said: ‘There was a riot in there - it was the best night of my life.'"

He added that he would be removing the St George's Cross flags from his car after seeing the violence.

"Some people have said that the crosses make you look like a thug and all the people starting the trouble were all wearing them.